Oil-free radiator and method for manufacturing the same

ABSTRACT

The disclosure discloses an oil-free radiator and a method of manufacturing the same. The oil-free radiator comprises a housing having a top plate, a bottom plate, two side walls, a front cover and a rear cover, with radiating holes disposed uniformly in the top plate; a cavity enclosed by the housing and with one or more heating elements provided on a bottom in the cavity. The oil-free radiator further comprises a plurality of radiating fins perpendicularly connected to the top plate of the housing and extending to the side walls. The present disclosure can solve simultaneously the technical problem of protecting the top of the oil-free radiator as well as dissipating heat from side faces of the oil-free radiator.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

Priorities are claimed on China Patent Applications No. 201310567727.3 and No. 201320717297.4, both filed Dec. 4, 2013, the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The disclosure relates to an electric appliance used for heating, and particularly to an oil-free radiator and a method for manufacturing the same.

BACKGROUND ART

A heater is an important electric appliance for home living, including an electric oil-filled radiator and an oil-free radiator.

An electric oil-filled radiator, briefly referred to as an electric oil radiator, is a heater filled by oil. It is a safe and reliable heater for heating space prevailed in recent years.

The electric oil radiator mainly consists of sealed electric heating elements, metal heating tubes, iron radiating fins, a temperature controlling element, a power switch, an indicator lamp and the like. In such a heater, tubular electric heating elements are mounted within a cavity which is provided with the radiating fins thereon, and a heat transfer oil is filled into the cavity to around the tubular electric heating elements. After the power is turned on, the heat transfer oil around the tubular electric heating elements is heated and moved upward in the cavity, and then, the heat transfer oil will circulate convectively along the heating tubes or sheets, such that heat is radiated via a surface of a wall of the cavity, so as to heat space environment. The heat transfer oil, after being cooled down by air, is moved downward to a circumference of the tubular electric heating elements, and is heated again, so that a new circulation is started.

A main characteristic of the electric oil radiator is that heat is dissipated in large amount, so that a certain temperature may be maintained for a long time even in sudden failure of power. Meanwhile, the electric oil radiator does not produce any harmful gas or operation noise. Moreover, the electric oil heater has a lower surface temperature, generally not exceeding 85° C., so a human body will not be scalded even if being contacted with it, and therefore, the electric oil heater is adapted to heat where the human body is probably contacted directly with it.

However, the electric oil radiator needs relatively long preheating time, and consumes a relatively large power. And, oil leakage is prone to occur to pollute the environment if the electric oil radiator is misused or aged.

To overcome the above problems, an oil-free radiator is developed in related art. The oil-free radiator does not use any heat transfer oil, but directly heats air flowing into a bottom of the cavity by the heating elements such that the heated air escapes from radiating holes on a top of the cavity, so as to dissipate heat and form a convective circulation. The oil-free radiator has a great heating effect, however, it still has following two disadvantages:

1) in the oil-free radiator according to the related art, the top where the radiating holes are arranged is a high temperature area, so if no effective safeguard is provided, a user will be scalded whenever contacted accidentally, thus, security of using the oil-free radiator is reduced.

2) in the oil-free radiator according to the related art, heat is dissipated mainly by means of the radiating holes on the top of the radiator, while heat cannot be dissipated effectively on the sides of the radiator, so a person sometimes cannot feel warm even when seating next to the oil-free radiator.

In conclusion, the oil-free radiator according to the related art has the technical problems to overcome, so as to ensure safeguard on the top of the radiator and dissipate heat effectively on the sides of the radiator.

SUMMARY OF THE DISCLOSURE

Aiming at the problem existed in the related art, an objective of the present disclosure is to provide an oil-free radiator to solve the technical problems that in the related art, the top of the oil-free radiator needs to be protected and heat-dissipation effect of the sides of the oil-free radiator is poor.

Another objective of the present disclosure is to provide a method of manufacturing the oil-free radiator to solve these technical problems in the related art.

In order to achieve the above objectives, the technical solutions of the present disclosure are briefly described as follows:

According to a respect of the disclosure, an oil-free radiator is provided. The oil-free radiator comprises: a housing having a top plate, a bottom plate, two side walls, a front cover and a rear cover, with radiating holes uniformly provided in the top plate; and a cavity enclosed by the housing and provided with one or more heating elements disposed on a bottom of the cavity. The oil-free radiator further comprises a plurality of radiating fins perpendicularly connected the top of the housing and extending to the side walls.

According to another respect of the disclosure, a method of manufacturing the oil-free radiator is provided. The method comprises following steps: a step S1 of forming a housing and a cavity of the oil-free radiator, and disposing one or more heating elements within the cavity; and a step S2 of fixedly connecting radiating fins to a top plate and side walls, wherein the top of each radiating fin is perpendicularly connected to the top plate of the housing.

According to yet another aspect of the disclosure, a method of manufacturing the oil-free radiator is provided. The method comprises following steps: a step S1 of passivating an edge of a sheet-like unit by way of cutting the sheet-like unit within the edge along a longitudinal center line, and folding the cut sheet-like unit respectively toward both sides by 90° in order to form a plurality of side wall-radiating fin units; a step S2 of forming a radiating fin-side wall assembly of the oil-free radiator by connecting the side wall-radiating fin units successively; and a step S3 of mounting the top plate, the bottom plate, the heating element, the front cover and the rear cover.

The disclosure may bring one or more of the following advantageous effects.

The oil-free radiator can solve the technical problem in protecting the top of the oil-free radiator and dissipating heat from the side walls of the oil-free radiator by mounting the radiating fins on the housing of the oil-free radiator. The oil-free radiator can be used in a more humanized and safer way, and the radiating area is increased. The method of manufacturing the oil-free radiator according to the present disclosure can improve usage of the materials, simplify the manufacturing process of the oil-free radiator, and reduce cost of producing the oil-free radiator.

BRIEF DESCIRPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view of an oil-free radiator according to a first embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a radiating fin of the oil-free radiator according to the first embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 3 is a schematic view of mounting the radiating fins of the oil-free radiator according to the first embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 4 is a schematic view of a first edge passivation form of a radiating fin of an oil-free radiator according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 5 is a schematic view of a second edge passivation form of a radiating fin of an oil-free radiator according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 6 is a schematic view of a third edge passivation form of a radiating fin of an oil-free radiator according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 7 is a perspective view of a side wall-radiating fin unit of an oil-free radiator according to a second embodiment of the present disclosure; and

FIG. 8 is a view showing connection of the plurality of side wall-radiating fin units of the oil-free radiator according to the second embodiment of the present disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Hereinafter, some preferred embodiments presenting features and advantages of the present disclosure will be illustrated in details. It should be understood that variations can be made in different embodiments of the present disclosure without departing from the spirit or scope of the disclosures, and both description and drawings serve to illustrate substantially rather than limit the present disclosure.

The oil-free radiators according to the embodiments of the present disclosure can be manufactured by using the manufacturing methods as illustrated in the embodiments of the present disclosure. The manufacturing methods of the embodiments of the present disclosure serve to manufacture the oil-free radiators according to the embodiments of the present disclosure. Hereinafter, oil-free radiators and methods for manufacturing the same will be described by way of several embodiments of the present disclosure, respectively.

First Embodiment

The oil-free radiator according to the first embodiment of the present disclosure includes a housing 1, a cavity 2, and radiating fins 3, as shown in FIG. 1.

The housing 1 for example has a substantially rectangular shape, but the present disclosure is not limited thereto. Both a length and a height of the rectangular housing are substantively larger than a width (or thickness) thereof, and the length may be larger or smaller than the height. The housing 1 has a top plate 10, two side walls 11, a front cover 12, a rear cover 13 and a bottom plate 14. Radiating holes 101 are disposed uniformly in the top plate 10, and an air intake 141 is provided on the bottom plate 14.

The cavity 2 is enclosed by the housing 1. One or more heating elements 20 are provided in the cavity 2. The heating element 20, for example, may be an electric heating tube. The heating element 20 is provided on a bottom of the cavity 2. The heating element 20 may be fixed on the bottom plate 14, or directly or indirectly fixed onto the side wall 11. Cold air flows into the cavity 2 through the air intake 141 in the bottom plate 14, and as hot air after heated by the heating element 20, to escape from the radiating holes 101. A convection is formed by such a circulation, thus a heating effect is enhanced.

For the arrangement above, the components of the oil-free radiator according to the present disclosure may be identical to those of the oil-free radiator in the related art. Moreover, the oil-free radiator may also include, but not limit to, a temperature controlling element, a power switch, and an indicator lamp, etc., and for this no further description will be repeated herein.

The oil-free radiator according to the first embodiment of the present disclosure further comprises a plurality of radiating fins 3. In an embodiment, the radiating fins are parallel to one another in a vertical direction of the side walls 11 and provided at an equal distance; moreover, a distance between the adjacent radiating fins 3, for example, is smaller than the width of an ordinary person's palm, but not limited hereto. A top 32 of the radiating fin 3 is arc-shaped, and correspondingly, a cross section of the top plate 10 is also in an arc shape.

In an embodiment, as shown in FIG. 2, the radiating fin 3, being in a circular shape, comprises a bottom 30, side edges 31 and a top 32. Moreover, the top 32 is in an arc shape, the bottom 30 and the side edges 31 both extend along a straight line, and a chamfer 301 is formed at junctions between the bottom edge 30 and the side edges 31. In the radiating fin 3, each of the bottom 30, the side edges 31 and the top 32 may include a passivated portion 33 and a heat dissipating portion 34. The passivated portion 33 is located on an outer edge of the radiating fin 3, and is formed by passivating the outer edge of the radiating fin 3, so as to avoid scratching the user's hand in contacting, especially, by the top of the radiating fin, and to prevent the user from carelessly contacting the top plate 10 which is at a high temperature. The heat dissipating portion 34 may enhance the heat dissipating effect of the oil-free radiator. Since the heat dissipating portion 34 of the side edge 31 has a largest area, the heat dissipating effect of the side faces of the oil-free radiator will be further enhanced. In addition, the bottom 30 may be disposed at a position under the bottom plate 14 of the housing 1, so as to enhance an air intake effect of the air intake 141.

Passivating the outer edge of the radiating fin 3 above may include, but not limit to, three methods as shown in FIGS. 4-6. The passivated portion 33 may be formed in an arc shape by directly folding the outer edge, as shown in FIG. 4. The outer edge may also be curved by 90° at first, and then curved inwardly to form an arc shape so as to form a passivated portion 33 which is a combination of a straight section and an arc section, or in other words, a L-shaped passivated portion 33, as shown in FIG. 5. The outer edge may also be arc-curved at first, and then arc-curved in a reverse direction, so as to form the passivated portion 33 which is a combination of an arc section in a direction and another arc section in a reverse direction.

In the oil-free radiator according to the present disclosure, the radiating fins 3 are perpendicularly connected to the top plate 10. The radiating fin 3 may not be circular, for example, it may not have the bottom 30, and the side edge 31 of the radiating fin may extend only to the middle portion of the two side walls 11. And, the radiating fins 3 may be not parallel to one another, rather, they may cross each other to form a grid.

Hereinafter, a method of manufacturing the oil-free radiator according to the first embodiment of the present disclosure will be described.

The method of manufacturing the oil-free radiator of this embodiment mainly contains following steps:

Step 1: forming a housing 1 and a cavity 2 of an oil-free radiator, and disposing a heating element 20 on a bottom of the cavity 2;

Step 2: fixedly connecting radiating fins 3 to the housing 1.

In an embodiment, the circular radiating fins 3 shown in FIG. 2 are fixedly connected to the top plate 10, side walls 11 and the bottom plate 14 of the housing 1, respectively. And in an embodiment, the top 32, the side edges 31 and the bottom 30 of the radiating fin 3 are all perpendicularly connected to the housing 1. As shown in FIG. 3, a plurality of radiating fins 3 are successively connected onto the hosing 1 in an equal distance, and the radiating fins 3 may be connected to the housing 1 by welding, screwing or snap-fitting. For snap-fitting, it is required to open a recess on a surface of the housing 1.

In the first embodiment above, the radiating fins 3 are fixedly connected to the housing 1 after manufacturing the housing 1 and the cavity 2. For the oil-free radiator according to the present disclosure, the side walls 11 of the housing 1 are integrally formed as forming the radiating fins 3. This will be described in the second embodiment.

Second Embodiment

Some contents of this embodiment as same as those of the first embodiment will not be repeated. Difference between this embodiment and the first embodiment lies mainly in that the side walls 11 of the housing 1 and the radiating fins 3 are formed by successively connecting a plurality of side wall-radiating fin units integrally formed. And, the top plate 10 is connected onto an upper folded edge 118 on the top end of the side wall 11 of the side wall-radiating fin unit, and the bottom plate 14 is connected onto a lower folded edge 119 on the bottom end of the side wall 11.

Hereinafter, the method of manufacturing the oil-free radiator according to the second embodiment of the present disclosure will be described.

The manufacturing method of this embodiment mainly contains steps as follows:

Step 1: passivating an edge of a sheet-like unit, the manner for passivating in the second embodiment may be as same as that in the first embodiment; and subsequently, the sheet-like unit 35 within the edge is cut in a longitudinal center line to be folded toward both sides by 90°, so as to form a plurality of side wall-radiating fin units, as shown in FIG. 7; and then a top end and a bottom end of each side wall 11 are folded, respectively, to form an upper folded edge 118 and a lower folded edge 119;

Step 2: forming a radiating fin-side wall assembly by connecting the side wall-radiating fin units successively, as shown in FIG. 8. The two adjacent side wall-radiating fin units, for example, may be connected by way of a spot-welding;

Step 3: mounting a top plate 10, a bottom plate 14, a heating element 20, a front cover 12 and a rear cover 13, wherein the top plate 10 is connected onto the upper folded edges 118, and the bottom plate 14 is connected onto the lower folded edges 119, for example, by way of welding or screws.

The oil-free radiators according to the embodiments of the present disclosure can solve the technical problems of protecting the top of the oil-free radiator and dissipating heat from the side faces of the oil-free radiator simultaneously by mounting the radiating fins 3 on the housing 1 of the oil-free radiator, so as to allow the oil-free radiator to be used more humanized and safer, and have an increased radiating area. The method of manufacturing the oil-free radiator of the present disclosure can improve usage of the materials, simplify the process of manufacturing the oil-free radiator, and also reduce the cost of producing the oil-free radiator.

Although the present disclosure has been described as above with reference to the preferred embodiments, these embodiments are not construed as limiting the present disclosure. It should be understood for those skilled in the art that modifications and variations without departing from scope and spirit of the present disclosure as claimed by the appended claims all fall within the scope sought to be protected by the claims of the present disclosure. 

What is claimed is:
 1. An oil-free radiator, comprising: a housing having a top plate, a bottom plate, two side walls, a front cover and a rear cover, with radiating holes disposed uniformly in the top plate; a cavity enclosed by the housing, with one or more heating elements provided on a bottom in the cavity; and a plurality of radiating fins perpendicularly connected to the top plate of the housing and extending to the side walls.
 2. The oil-free radiator according to claim 1, wherein the radiating fins are parallel to one another in a vertical direction of the side walls and are arranged at an equal distance, and a top of each radiating fin is arc.
 3. The oil-free radiator according to claim 2, wherein the side walls and the radiating fins are formed by connecting a plurality of integrally formed side wall-radiating fin units successively.
 4. The oil-free radiator according to claim 1, wherein the radiating fins are connected to the surface of the housing by welding, screwing or snap-fitting.
 5. The oil-free radiator according to claim 3, wherein the top plate is connected onto upper folded edges at top ends of the side walls, and the bottom plate is connected onto lower folded edges at bottom ends of the side walls.
 6. A method of manufacturing the oil-free radiator according to claim 1, comprising: a step S1 of forming the housing and the cavity of the oil-free radiator, and disposing one or more heating elements within the cavity; and a step S2 of fixedly connecting the radiating fins to the top plate and the side walls, wherein the top of each radiating fin is perpendicularly connected to the top plate of the housing.
 7. A method of manufacturing the oil-free radiator according to claim 1, comprising: a step S1 of passivating an edge of a sheet-like unit by way of cutting the sheet-like unit within the edge along a longitudinal center line, and folding the cut sheet-like unit respectively toward both sides by 90° in order to form a side wall-radiating fin unit; a step S2 of forming a radiating fin-side wall assembly of the oil-free radiator by connecting a plurality of side wall-radiating fin units successively; and a step S3 of mounting the top plate, the bottom plate, the heating element, the front cover and the rear cover.
 8. The method according to claim 7, wherein in the step S1, the edge of the sheet-like unit is passivated by curving the edge into a shape of an arc or L.
 9. The method according to claim 7, wherein the step S2 further includes a step of forming an upper folded edge and a lower folded edge, respectively, by folding two longitudinal ends of the side wall of the side wall-radiating fin unit by 90°.
 10. The method according to claim 9, wherein the top plate is connected onto the upper folded edges of the side walls, and the bottom plate is connected onto the lower folded edges of the side walls. 